Island Med Student

Everyone is familiar with the stories of people getting queasy at the sight of blood, and even passing out. Even if it’s never happened to you, I’m sure you’ve heard of someone who has. I’ve always considered myself to be fairly comfortable with blood and needles. I like to watch when getting my own blood drawn, and I don’t even mind getting poked with needles. When I worked and volunteered at hospitals, I saw blood all the time, and even carried it around the hospital. In anatomy lab, I was the first person to cut into our body, and I never got grossed out by any of the dissections (granted, there isn’t much actual blood left in the bodies). I’ve cut open live rats while working in a neuroscience lab, and I’ve even gotten to watch a few surgeries on humans. So, I assumed that I had a pretty strong stomach when it came to blood, needles, and medical procedures. But a few days ago, I found out that it might not be so strong after all.

I was rounding with a physician and she decided to take us to the dialysis unit to see a patient. By this point, it was about 12:30 in the afternoon, and I had not eaten anything all day. We stepped inside the clinic and met a lady who was being dialyzed. I watched the blood running through all the tubes and was fascinated, since this was the first dialysis machine I’d ever seen in use. But as the physician started describing how the machine works, I realized that I was starting to drip with sweat. I could feel the blood draining from my face, and then the world became a little fuzzy. As the doctor pulled back the blanket to reveal the arteriovenous fistula on the patient’s arm, I felt my knees becoming weak. The sweat was dripping down my back, and I could barely see. Luckily, at the last moment, I gathered all my strength and ran out of the unit into the outside corridor.

After I made it outside, I looked around for a place to sit. There was a bench nearby, so I stumbled towards it and collapsed. As I sat there, waiting for my blood to return, I realized that there were patients all around me, staring intently. I guess I must have looked like a mess, covered with sweat, with an absolutely white face that matched my white coat. I sat on the bench for several minutes before I could stand again. I knew I desperately needed sugar, but I didn’t have any change on me, so I just bravely stepped back inside the unit. I was pleased to realize that the other students in my group had covered for me, and I hadn’t made as big of a scene as I had originally thought.

The whole incident really got me thinking, though. If something as innocuous as a lady on dialysis is enough to send me to the floor, how will I deal with a spurting artery? Or a severed limb? Or one of a million bloody scenarios to come? I guess I’m really nervous that I picked the wrong profession. What if I can never overcome the vasovagal response to the sight of blood, or someone being poked with needles? I’m wondering if there are other people like me out there. Did you ever figure out a way to prevent passing out at the sight of blood? Does it eventually just go away after working in medicine long enough? Or is it something that you always have to battle?

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